Chinese hackers are now targeting U.S. universities in an effort to steal maritime technology that is being developed for military use, a new report found.
The report discovered that at least 27 different schools in the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia have been targeted by the attackers including the University of Hawaii, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Washington, Fortune reported.
Schools are typically hotter targets than actual military organizations because they have high-value information and often don’t have as strong security. Many have government grants and funding to conduct research that will ultimately have a military application.
iDefense, a cybersecurity intelligence unit of Accenture Security, discovered the breach and its findings were corroborated by FireEye, a U.S.-based cybersecurity firm.
According to its report, the hacks have been in progress since at least April 2017 and have come from the same group, which is known by many names, including Temp.Periscope, Leviathan, and Mudcarp, according to Forbes.
The U.S. Navy said in a statement that it recognizes the seriousness of cyber attacks and is working on ways to bolster its defenses.
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